Richard Matros, chairman and CEO of Sabra

The financial savings from the Patient Driven Payment Model have “pretty much gone away” following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Sabra Health Care REIT CEO Rick Matros noted in a first-quarter earnings call in May. 

Many of the cost savings for SNF providers had to do with group and concurrent therapy. But with new federal mandates in response to COVID-19, many activities have been done on a “one-on-one basis.” 

“Those cost savings — while they will come back post-pandemic — currently do not exist,” Matros added. 

He remained upbeat about the new reimbursement system, which went into effect last October. 

“[Resource Utilization Groups} incentivized operators to admit short-term rehab patients only,” he said. “Since we’ve had PDPM in place, we’ve expanded the kinds of patients that are admitted to the facilities to include a lot of nursing conditions, and more complex nursing care, and that is helping us [put our portfolio] in a stronger position going into the pandemic.” 

The California-based real estate investment trust reported that its skilled nursing/transitional care occupancy declined 460 basis points between March and May. However, its skilled mix occupancy was “slightly higher” during the same time frame.

The coronavirus has affected operations. As of early May, the company had 80 facilities with positive COVID-19 residents. Operators have been treating every resident as if they have COVID-19, which is in accordance with federal guidelines, and admissions have stopped at facilities that have had large outbreaks. 

“If there hasn’t been a large outbreak, and working in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services, most of our facilities are still admitting [residents] — particularly if they’ve got the capacity to isolate and quarantine new admissions when they come in,” Matros said.